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Hmm. My reading comp could be slow right now, but when you say, "I have a 4.0 as a transfer student at a T20," I interpret that as meaning one of a few things.

a. You transferred to a T20 from a lower-ranked school and you had a 4.0 at your previous school.b. You transferred to a T20 from a lower-ranked school and you have a 4.0 at your current school.c. You transferred to a higher ranked school from a T20 and you had a 4.0 at your previous school.d. You transferred to a higher ranked school from a T20 and you have a 4.0 at your current school.

My best reading of it is that you are in situation B. I will also assume that you're at Vandy, GW, WUSTL or UM. If that's the case, that's a very solid position to be in. No journal will hurt, especially since you're not at a national school. If you're at Vandy or GW, you should have some really excellent clerkship resources available to you who will be able to give you a better idea of how transfer students do. I'll leave estimating your chances to a seasoned pro like GTL or accidentalclerk.

As for what you can do to give yourself a leg up from here on out, consider working to publish something somewhere. Without the constraints of a journal on you, you should have some extra time to devote to putting out a full article. Some LRs let 3Ls on by publishing with the journal - you might consider that route.

Locking down good recommenders at your new school will also be critical. Considering approaching a professor about becoming an RA. If you're not doing any extra-currics at your new school, you should have some extra time to devote to any of these endeavors.

I think your chances at COA w/o a journal are dim. I also think some district judge will hire you. As to the other question in this thread (your other question?) I got a COA and plenty of interviews with a fed courts B+, so it's not a disqualifier.